With New Yorkers moving away in droves and tourists staying put during the coronavirus pandemic, the decision to open a brand new store in an emptying city seems counterintuitive. Real estate experts and developers are predicting New York might take a decade or more to recover, and even then, may never be the same again.

But at least one brand is betting the city will eventually return to the old normal. Krispy Kreme is opening its first flagship store in Times Square on Sept. 15.

“With so many places running away from New York, especially retailers, we want to be part of the re-emergence of New York City,” says Krispy Kreme Chief Marketing Officer David Skena. “We’re betting on New York. We’re betting on New Yorkers. They’re some of the most resilient people, and we cannot wait to serve them. I know we don’t have tourists today, but they’ll be back. New York will be back, and we’ll be back with them.”

Skena, who was appointed CMO about two years ago, says the plan to build Krispy Kreme’s flagship and a number of other stores within New York City, were laid out years before the pandemic caught the brand by surprise. The flagship store was initially meant to open in May, but was postponed to September when the brand could ascertain it could open safely and in compliance with federal and state guidance, he says.

The building sits at 1601 Broadway in a section of real estate rapidly becoming the sweet tooth of Times Square. Right across the street is M&M’s experiential flagship M&M’s World, which sits a street away from Hershey’s Chocolate World.

Krispy Kreme’s experiential flagship has a similar goal to its neighbors: provide a space where consumers can not only buy from the brand, but interact with it, with limited edition items—only available at the store—thrown in.

The 4,500 square-foot flagship store is open 24/7 for in-store shopping and mobile ordering and pick-up. There’s also a walk-up window where people can pick-up doughnuts without having to step into the store, a fortuitous added convenience, and offers delivery up to five miles away. When it opens in September, it will enforce that visitors wear masks and stand six feet apart within the store.

The store is designed to flow like a conveyer belt. Visitors can watch how Krispy Kreme’s glazed doughnuts are made, with markers placed every six feet for social distancing. After picking up a Krispy Kreme paper hat, visitors can watch employees behind a larger glass wall mix the dough, and follow the doughnuts’ path along a large conveyer belt where they are fried and flipped, finally ending their sweet journey through a large glaze waterfall. Customers can get a fresh sample right off the conveyer belt.

Visitors can order from 16 variations of doughnuts at the back of the store, beyond tables of New York-inspired Krispy Kreme merchandise and a doughnut-themed amphitheater. Visitors can purchase Krispy Kreme mugs, blankets, bags, keychains and a special Big Apple doughnut, inspired by the candy apples of Coney Island.

There’s also a giant digital billboard that sits on top of the building, to which Krispy Kreme has full-time access and is using to showcase its advertising and current “Share Joy” campaign. Krispy Kreme works with Omnicom Group’s FleishmanHillard on creative and public relations. The top of the store will also feature what the company claims will be the “world’s largest” hot light, standing at 15 feet tall and weighing 8,000 pounds.

While many brands are still postponing their marketing or real estate plans amid the pandemic, Skena says Krispy Kreme decided to go on the offensive with its business, and it’s helping the brand keep to its schedule. “Some businesses may have chosen to go into a more defensive posture,” he says. “We went the other way.”  

Besides giving away dozens of doughnuts to medical professionals and new graduates, Krispy Kreme did not stop its expansion spree. The flagship store is one of seven new stores the brand has opened in New York City this year, and part of the 150 shops, including franchises, it has opened in the past two years.

Despite the pandemic, Skena says demand has not slowed down. Krispy Kreme doesn’t release its sales numbers, but Skena says sales are up by double digits this year, boosted by new initiatives such as its new in-store and e-commerce partnership with Walmart in June, and introducing delivery in February, just as the pandemic was about to force people inside. Skena says its consumer packaged goods business is also up by double digits this year and e-commerce is now 10 percent of the business.

The brand has seen a slow-down in the mornings, with the pandemic throwing off regular routines, but Skena says stores still see people coming by, only later in the day. If anything, the brand has had to be wary of people standing too closely in long lines in front of their stores.

“We can’t make respirators. We don’t know how to make surgical masks. But we really know how to bring a smile to people’s face and bring joy to others,” Skena says.